Blast to the Past
by Cherry Blossom's Age
Summary: After Sasuke returns to Konoha, a horrible ninja war breaks out within all the countries. Most the ninja in Konoha are killed including the jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki, leaving only Sakura and Sasuke. With the odds are stacked heavily against them, the two soon find themselves ready to try anything. Including a Forbidden Ninjustu!
1. Chapter 1

**Blast From the Past**

**Chapter One: Back to the Past**

No one thought that the fourth war between villages would come soon. Even I, who had left my own village, thought that it was impossible. After achieving my life long goal, killing my older brother, Itachi, I learned that it had been a mistake that I would never forget. I discovered that he had slaughtered our clan under orders by the village, Konoha, the place I had called home. My next goal was to obliterate it for making my brother suffer but I also found out that he had did it to protect it. I knew that if I had destroyed the very place he tried to defend then I may as well threw his efforts out the window. I decided to defend it too, honoring my brother's wishes. I had also learned that before he died, Itachi passed along to me his mangekyo sharingan.

When I had returned, I thought that most would treat me as a traitor but I wasn't. My team, which I believed hated me for the errors I made, welcomed me back as if I had gone a regular trip. I told them everything that I had learned about my brother and they were as shocked as I was but understood. My former instructor said that I had finally chosen a correct path and I was added into their team like before.

After about what seemed 8 months, the conflict broke out within the nations. Multiple villages,who were once at peace with one another, starting fighting. Soon even the main villages were pulled into it. Gaara, who was the Kazekage for Suna, was so busy trying to keep peace within his nation that he couldn't lend help the village of Konoha, which had been already bruised from it's recent events with the Akatsuki member, Pain.

During a horrific fight, I saw deaths that I wouldn't believe if I hadn't seen them with my own eyes. My former classmates had all been annihilated by the enemy. Even Might Guy's team had been a victim of the tragedy. All of the jonin had been killed during the onslaught. The death that had mainly affected me, was the one of my best friend and rival, Naruto Uzumaki. He had been using to much chakra and had tapped into the power of the fox demon he had locked inside of him. I wasn't able to get to him before he was stabbed in the back with a poison kunai.

Even Sakura, who had been studying under the legendary Sanin, Tsunade, couldn't heal and get the poison out before it took the life of the blond-haired jinchuriki. We managed to the draw them back but most of strongest had been killed. There was a funeral for those who had died. I hadn't ever seen Sakura cry so hard. She broke down at the funeral which I had no choice but to console her.

Tsunade, the 5th hokage, had died while trying to protect her village so the people had no one to guide them. The elders had no other conclusion but to choose the 6th before anything else happened. Sakura, who had been trained by the strong ninja, was chosen but had no ceremony. I took it amongst myself to help her when she needed it, having still not recovered from the demise our teammate.

* * *

"Sakura, are you alright?" Sasuke rushed into her office after hearing something hit the the ground and crash. When he looked, he saw she was sitting in front her desk in a fetal position with a broken glass picture frame beside her. Even though her head was down, he could tell she was crying but it easy to see she was shaking. Worried, Sasuke went and got on a knee so that he could go to her now small height. "Sakura..."

"I-I tried not to look at it...I tried but... I still saw him..." Said Sakura sobbing between each set of words. She allowed her head to go up more so she could look at him but it didn't stop the tears from falling. "Sasuke-kun...Why can't I get over this? It's been a year! Why can't get him off my head?"

Sasuke's eyes wandered down, not knowing how to answer her questions. What was he suppose to say to her? That it was because she was holding the position that Naruto lived to achieve? Or maybe that she knew Naruto liked her but she didn't return his feelings? He had no idea what he wanted to say to her. Hurt went across his face as he watched her pour her heart out in tears. Out of pure instincts, he got on both knees and pulled her into his arms. He felt her wrapped her arms around his neck hugging him back.

"Sakura...I'm sorry..." Sasuke told her softly closing his eyes. He knew exactly what she was going threw from experience and knew just how much this was affecting her. Though, he had a close idea as to why she was beating herself up about it. "It's alright. I miss him too."

"If only...If only I had trained more.. I could have saved him..." She said in a low tone sniffing slightly.

The black-haired Uchiha's suspicions were put at rest with her sentence. It explained why she felt so bad. She thought that wasn't strong or skilled enough to heal him before he died. She let go and covered her eyes to stop crying. Sasuke released her too and took her hands from her damp and red face. "Sakura, listen to me. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't that you were too weak but we both were just too late. Don't hold his death on yourself. I know for a fact that he wouldn't want you to keep up like this. You gotta try to stay strong for Naruto sake."

The pink-haired teenager pushed her lips together while looking at him before nodding her head slowly. She wiped her eyes to get rid of the remained tears and Sasuke stood up and held out his hand. She looked at him before taking it and standing in front of him. By comparison, he was still taller than her. She smiled at him. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun."

He nodded once with his signature smirk. Seeing her smile made him feel a lot better though he saw her heart wasn't completely into it but it was a real smile either way. "So what were you doing before?"

"I was looking through some old scrolls that I found in a room." Sakura answered sweeping up the glass and picking up the frame. She sat it down before moving behind her desk picking up the box which held about 20 dusty scrolls inside. "Wanna help?"

He shrugged before going beside her and picking up one. He blew on it and the dusty substance go everywhere making them both cough. "When was these things made?" He asked her.

"It's from a long time ago. What did you expect?" Sakura countered fanning the air with a little cough. "Besides that, it was in a room with no windows. You're a smart boy so figure out the rest."

Sasuke shot her a half glare which she returned by sticking out her tongue playfully. Rolling his eyes, Sasuke opened the scroll and glanced threw it carefully. His eyes picked up on immediately what it was about. "This a scroll on forbidden Ninjustu."

She looked up from hers to give him a confused look. "Forbidden Ninjustu? How do you know that?"

"It has the Shadow-Clone technique. Remember when we learned that a very special somebody sneaked and grabbed the Scroll-of-Sealing from the 3rd Hokage which contained multiple prohibited jutsu?" He edged on referring back to Naruto from a few years ago. The Uchiha sat down at the chair at end of her desk and put his smirk back on. "You're a smart girl so you can figure out the rest."

The cherry blossom girl gave him the same glare he gave her while he challenged it with his cocky expression. She darted her eyes back to the scroll giving Sasuke the victory and sat on top of her desk.

After about 4 useless jutsus, Sasuke's eyes fell on one that he had never even heard before. Duo Time no Jutsu. From the looks of it, you need two people in order to do it and a lot of chakra control. However, when got to explain the jutsu, it was worn out so much that even he couldn't read it. Part of him wanted to see exactly what it did while the other half wanted to make sure that it didn't hurt anything.

His eyes glanced up to Sakura who was sitting on the top of her desk with one leg over the other. Her emerald eyes were focused on her reading and going back an forth with the words. A secret blush appeared on his cheeks as continued to examine her. A long time ago, a rumor spread about him that he liked girls with long hair when it was actually the opposite. Sasuke was really into girls with shoulder length, like had she had her hair now. Though up until now he never noticed how grown up Sakura had got...

"Sasuke-kun, did you find any interesting jutsu in there?" She asked him after finishing her scroll and setting it down.

Hearing her question, he shook off the blush he had and nodded. "Yeah, at least I think so." He stood and walked over to her showing her the jutsu. She looked over it and her eyebrow raised slightly.

"This really is interesting but it doesn't say what it does..." Sakura said a little puzzled and partly disappointed. "Though I'm curious as to what it does. Aren't you?"

"A little." Sasuke answered honestly. An idea popped in his mind and he checked it over. There was two of them and they both had excellent chakra control. "Do you wanna try it?"

"What?" Sakura looked at him, surprised by the request. "I don't know, Sasuke-kun. I mean we don't even know what it does and it might dangerous if done wrong..."

Sasuke's eyes shifted to side realizing that she may be right. As he thought deeply about it, there was a high possibility that if they did it wrong then something bad could happen but it wasn't so important? "You're right about that but what more could we lose?" He asked her softly. "The village can't survive another attack. I don't even think we would survive another battle."

Sakura was about to answer his previous question before he listed the facts, which she knew was true. The possibility for the survival for the village was 13% to 15%. She bit her bottom lip thinking about it before nodding. "Let's do it."

They looked at the hand-signs and noticed that it was multiply signs but you had to do them at the once using two different hands. Sakura recognized that type of hand movements was also used in suicide jutsu that kill both the user and person they used it on. It was dangerous to try because you could make the wrong sign but mistake.

"You ready?" Sasuke asked her, mainly making sure he was ready to try to risk. He knew it was chancy that they could accomplish it but he didn't want to force her to it.

She turned her head towards him nodding. "I sure am." She did the first half of the hand-sign and held her hand for him to finished.

They started saying them out loud at once in order to lose track and mess up. They soon started to noticed that light blue aura was surrounding them along with a clock rotating at their feet. Just as they did the final sign, everything in the room went bright along with a strong gust of wind. Sakura grabbed Sasuke arm in pure fear and buried her head in I. He cringed and shut his eyes to stop seeing the brightness.

The sound of birds chirping made him open his eyes back up. They were at the gates of village right besides the bench. Sasuke felt hair on his arm and saw that Sakura's hair was back to long length.

"Sasuke-kun, are we dead?" Sakura asked muffled in his sleeve. She was shaking slightly scared of the answer. When he didn't say anything, she looked up and felt her hair, noticing it was long again. "What the..." She looked up to Sasuke. His eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly opened. Following his gaze, her face turned into the same one as his.

They knew that their village was all in shambles and most buildings were messed up but however the buildings they were looking at were perfectly fine. Even the academy,which had been burned to the ground, was standing tall.

"Sakura/Sasuke-kun, you-" They said at once and cut themselves off when saw looked at each other. They were back to looking like they were when they first became genin. A theory popped up in their minds at once. "We traveled back in time!"

"It makes sense. I mean, the village isn't damaged and we are genin again so we must have done the jutsu correctly." Sasuke explained in his own words, finding that the only choice of words as he could put it. He reached and took a small lock of her hair, mentally sighing . She blushed slightly. "Plus you no longer have your short hair."

"B-But I..." Sakura started to say flustered to no end. She always thought he liked girls with long hair. A thought popped in her mind. "Wait, Sasuke-kun, if were back in time, then doesn't that mean..."

"Hey, Sakura-Chan!"

Both Sasuke and Sakura froze the second they heard the voice. Slowly, the turned and saw their fallen friend walking towards them. Tears appeared in Sakura eyes as she smiled big. She ran and hugged him tightly.

"S-Sakura? Are you okay?" He asked turning bright red but mainly confused. The Sakura he knew said he was annoying and a pest but it seemed a person could change their mind in a short amount of time...

"I'm perfect! Just perfect!" She said with a large grin. It then struck her that this wasn't the same Naruto from her time and instantly let go. "I..um..mean..." She glanced at Sasuke who gestured to himself before catching his drift. "Transform!"

Naruto blinked and then a clone of Sasuke appeared right next to him. He glared at both of them. "Sasuke! I knew it! Sakura would never do that! I'm gonna-" The blond stopped and held his stomach as it roared. He then ran away towards to the building at lightning speed which made Sakura change back.

She ran back over to Sasuke and let out a breath of relief. "Thanks, Sasuke-kun. I think I almost gave him a heart attack."

"I think just looking at him almost gave us one." Sasuke commented crossing his arms while looking at her. "So now what? If we're here, that probably means that our future doesn't exist anymore."

Sakura nodded before catching something within his sentence. She grinned while looking at him. "If our future doesn't exist, you know what that means?" He gave her looking for her to go on. "If it doesn't exist then, the war never breaks out. Naruto and everyone else doesn't die. This a chance to start over again. Also, in this time, Itachi isn't dead."

As Sasuke thought about her reasons, he found each one to be true. Unlike he knew a while ago, he had no reason to kill Itachi but it bothered him knowing that he couldn't even reach out to his brother but knew exactly where he could be. "Maybe you're right. We could do things differently now that we know what to expect."

"Well...there something I wanna do first. Hand me the kunai in your pocket." She held out her hand. He reached and handed it to her. His eyes widened when she grabbed her hair and chopped it off right then and there without a second thought. It was back to shoulder-length and she made it neater before fixing her headband. "I like it better like this so now it won't get in the way."

"W-Whatever. Let's go. It's about time we go back." He turned around to hide the smile on his face. He was kinda glad to have her back to short hair rather than the long. Putting his hands in his pockets, he began to walk back to academy. Sakura put her hair remains in the garbage and followed him to catch up.

As they walked, they noticed how everything wasn't broken or even cracked. It was relieving to know that they could get the times a peace again. Once inside the classroom, they went to their seats like before without acknowledging each other to make sure that they didn't blow their cover.

However, someone immediately noticed Sakura's hair length and went to confront her about. "Hey, Sakura, I couldn't help but notice that you cut your hair." Sakura looked up and restrained herself from hugging her best friend after remembering that in this time they were still competing. Ino smirked at her. "Does that mean you've given up on Sasuke?"

Sakura thought about it for a second before nodding her head which surprised Ino and Sasuke. "Sure have. Actually, I thought that...you know..we could be friends again? All this rivalry has been stupid anyway." Sakura asked her smiling. "So how about it? Can we start over?"

Ino was a bit too shocked to answer. Her rival has given up? It was just this morning they raced and fought over who got sit next to Sasuke...what had happened to her in such a short amount of time? Part of Ino was a bit glad. She missed being her friend too. Smiling, Ino nodded and smiled holding out her hand. "Sure. I'm Ino Yamanaka. Do you wanna be friends again?"

Sakura smiled and shook her outstretched hand. "Sakura Haruno. Yes, I'd love to be friends again, Ino."

After Ino left Sasuke leaned back in his chair with a smirk. "So what was that about? Even in our time, you and her still fought like cats and dogs." He asked.

The pinkette shrugged with a smile. "I dunno. I just thought I get my friend back while I the chance. All we ever did was fight, so I wanted to, you know, end it before it became a habit." She answered joining her hands together. "This may prove to be better for the greater good."

"We do need to go over some things." Sasuke stated in a serious tone making her give him a confused look. "We need to conceal a bit of our power or else we're going to cause a lot of disturbance. Think about it. If I used my Sassuno or hell even my Chidori, wouldn't it be weird when I didn't even learn it yet? I don't even think I can used my mangekyou sharingan in front of anyone or that will gain some questions."

"You can still use your sharingan?" Sakura asked in a somewhat unsure tone. He activated it and looked at her making her look the opposite way. "So that's a yes then. I don't why you just didn't say it. You know damn well that I can't stand those weird eyes.

Sasuke chuckled and deactivated it before anyone could see it. "Cause the look on your face gives me joy." He answered leaning forward. "Still it would best if we held back a bit. Like that insane strength and healing abilities of yours. People may wonder how you possess the power of Tsunade and how your able to heal anything when you haven't even met her yet."

"I see you point. For now, let's stop talking before someone notices." Sakura finished looking the opposite direction so no one would see that they were talking.

"_So how about I talk to you like this?" _

Sakura turned slight with a shocked look. He sent a small wink and smirk at her. She looked down and avoided eye contact and the urge to punch him. "_Alright, when did you learn this little trick?"_

"_Came with the sharingan. I'm sure Itachi knew all about it. I just never used it till now." _He responded looking at the window. "_This way, no will know we're talking except you and me."_

"_Fine...you're still a jackass for not saying anything though." _Sakura crossed her arms closed her eyes with small puff.

"_You'll get over it."_ Sasuke chortled hiding a devious smile.

* * *

"He's late!" Naruto growled as he paced by the door. Sasuke was sitting at a desk up front while Sakura sat on the desk beside him. They were both secretly smiling while looking at their teammate.

"Naruto, just sit down and wait." Sakura suggested but a bit nicer than she had did before leaning back using her arms to support herself.

He shook his head impatiently. "I don't want to. How come our teacher is the only one who's late? I'm ready to roll, Believe it." He told her. She really wasn't upset but mostly happy to hear his constant complaining. She tried to see it as making up for the year of his complaints that she didn't hear from him. "Everyone else already met their teacher and took off on some adventure or something and Iruka-Sensei is gone too."

"We know okay." Said Sakura knowing what he was going to do next. She watched as he walked over to the board grabbing the eraser then setting it up so whoever opened it was hit by it. "_So should I say something or no?"_

"_Nah, let's just let him pull his trick."_ Sasuke responded with a light chuckle while watching him set it up. "_To tell the truth, it was quite amusing the first time. Should still be the second time."_

Sakura giggled silently. "_So did I to be honest. I just apologized to make it look like it wasn't funny. In a way, I think he thought it was fun too"_

"That's what he gets for being late!" Naruto stated moving back to admire his work. "Surprised." He grinned and looked at the door waiting for it to open.

"Do what you want but do you honestly think that will work?" Sasuke asked him emotionless. "Our teacher is a jonin, an elite ninja. You think he'd fall for something like that?"

Sakura remained silent and did a small countdown in her head. Right as she reached one, the door slid open and the eraser fell on top of their sensei's head. She sat up to look at him with a half a smile. There was Kakashi examining the eraser while Naruto laughed at his prank. "_Bet you 3 yen that he'll say something different."_

"_I'll take that bet." _Sasuke accepted as he waited for Kakashi to say something. He and Sakura seemed to have gotten closer over the time spent together so he could officially call her one of his best friends.

"Alright how should I put this? My first impression of this group ..." Kakashi started putting a hand to his chin in thought. Sakura and Sakura shared a glance before he finished. "You're a bunch of idiots." Their faces dropped and Sakura was especially mad about it.

Sasuke laughed slightly in his mind. "_I win. That will be 3 yen." _He said to her making her slightly glare at him. "_Some things will never change with him."_

"_I guess your right." _Sakura sighed with a hidden smile. Maybe this was a second chance...

* * *

**Well thats about a wrap for this chapter! Tell me what you think!**

**-Cherry**


	2. Chapter 2

**Blast From the Past**

**Chapter Two: Second Chances Happen**

I always believed that ever since Naruto died, Sasuke-kun and I would eventually die and go with him but now I guess that was just a belief. We're back in the past again. The village is happy and everything is still there. Unlike the Konoha I grew use to. The one where everywhere you look was sadness and sorrow. The buildings were as low as the ground and holes were about all over from the constant battles.

In a way, I'm a little happy to be back here. I get to see everyone again. The people who I fought with during battles in the village. In the place Sasuke-kun and I were from, all of our comrades and friends were all dead. We even lost our hokage and my master, Tsunade. Worst of all, we lost Naruto. I tried my hardest to heal him but I couldn't save him in time.

Since I was the only option left because Master Jiraiya had passed way before the war, I was chosen to be the 6th hokage. It came without a ceremony or anything fancy. I went straight to office to try to defend Konoha the way I believe Lady Tsunade or the 3rd would. However, I felt hesitant to accept the responsibility of protecting the village as the Hokage. Naruto always dreamed of becoming the hero of the village and gain respect by the people by earning the title of Hokage but I was simply handed the job.

Though Sasuke-kun would tell me otherwise, I always believed it was my fault Naruto had died. If only I had trained more and gotten stronger, then maybe he wouldn't have died and he would be in the hokage chair not me. There were multiple times when I couldn't even look at our team picture without breaking down into tears or choking up. I remember at the funeral for the fallen ninja, I had broken down in front of everyone from loosing both Naruto and Kakashi-Sensei and Sasuke-kun had to console me.

A year passed and it was always so gray and sad around the village. Since most of the villagers were either hospitalized or dead, there was no one to help fix the fallen buildings. Sasuke-kun and I and a few others were the only ones strong enough to hold off an attack on the village. Since Sasuke-kun returned to the village after defeating his brother, he had gotten stronger from before and was determined to help me protect the village his brother lived and died to protect. I was glad to still have someone to talk to and cheer me up when I felt like killing myself.

Now that we're back to old days, where we just starting out as genin, I believe that this was chance to start over again and change the way things were supposed to be. It was going to be hard getting use to things over again and seeing people who I knew to be dead. At least I have Sasuke-kun with me. I think that he wasn't here, then I probably be just as sad and lost like I was before we came here. We have to keep it secret about our time line along with power we now have and along with the information we've learned. In due time, I promise, not as the 6th hokage, but as a kunoichi of Konoha, that I'll protect this village from any threat if it means I die in the process.

* * *

"Alright, how about you introduce yourselves. One by one" Kakashi suggested leaning back on the railing as they sat on the steps in the spots were Sakura and Sasuke recalled them sitting before.

"Well what exactly should we say?" Sakura asked already knowing the way he wanted but she just wanted to hear to voice of her teacher again. Though now she had a bit more patience for him then she did before.

"Things you like. Things you hate." He continued on waving his hand. "You're hopes for the future. Hobbies. Things like that." Kakashi concluded shortly.

"Why don't you go first? I mean, before we talk you should tell us about yourself so we can understand how it works." Naruto spoke with a somewhat confused tone and tried to hide it.

He started and Sakura and Sasuke both almost recited exactly as he said it. "Me...I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like. Things I hate...I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future..I never really thought about it. As for hobbies...I have a lot of hobbies."

"_To think that I missed his half-ass introduction..."_ Sakura started a bit dully putting her head on her knees while she heard Sasuke laugh inside her head. _"Don't laugh. He only said his name."_

"_But we know more about him now. Including about his teammates." _Sasuke reminded her while looking at their jonin teacher while hiding a small smirk behind his hands. He didn't want to admit that he had missed the gray-haired pervert.

"Okay, your turn. You on the right. You first." He motioned towards Naruto.

Naruto grinned and messed with his headband. Sakura smiled slightly while listening to him. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like instant ramen in a cup and I really liked the ramen Iruka-Sensei got me at the Ichiraku noddle shop. But I hate the 3 minutes you have to wait after pouring the water in the ramen cup. My hobbies are eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them. And my dream is..." He grinned. "To be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will start respecting me and treating me like I'm somebody! Somebody important!"

Sasuke saw Sakura swallow hard. Without able to see her face, he knew that she wanted to cry. A small part of him almost forgot that she was hokage of their future. "_Sakura, it's alright. He's right there. You have no reason to be upset."_

"_I-I'm not." _She responded before bit her lip as she tried to hold back some tears. She reached and put her hands behind her for him to see the cut on her finger. "_I accidentally cut myself on a rock._"

Sasuke sighed lightly and shaking his head. "_Man, you really are clumsy. Just try to ignore it till we leave." _He instructed.

"Alright, next." Kakashi looked at Sakura waiting for her to respond. After a few seconds, he tried again. "Um...hello? It's your turn."

Sakura straightened up after hearing the second time and moved her hands to her side. "I'm Sakura Haruno. The thing I like is..." She glanced at Sasuke before grinning. "I like training! My hobbies are finding to new ways to get stronger and my dream to be one the best and strongest medical ninja in the fire country!" She declared with small blush lines.

"Oh..and something you hate?" Kakashi asked seeing she didn't answer that part. He was bit surprised by her answers. He thought that she was one of Sasuke's fan girls like the rest...

"Na-" Sakura stopped herself quickly. She no longer hated Naruto like she did when they were first genin. He was like a brother to her if she had to be honest but she had to think of something she hated fast. Getting it in her mind, Sakura smirked. "Losing."

After a few seconds of silence, Kakashi looked at Sasuke. "Okay, last one. You in the middle."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream cause I will make it a reality. I'm gonna restore my clan and..." He paused with a small smile that only Sakura could see from her angle. "...and find a certain person."

Sakura was the only one who knew exactly why he changed the second part. He already knew about his brother and doubted that he would do again.

"Good. You're each unique and you have your own ideas. We'll have our first mission tomorrow. It's going to be a task the 4 of us will do together." Kakashi stated simply. Sasuke and Sakura already knew what to expect but Naruto asked instead what it was. "A survival exercise."

"This won't be like the ones we did in the Academy, will it?" Sakura asked him simply.

"Not at all." Kakashi answered using his nonchalant voice. "This will be a test that determines either you all become ninja or not. You see, out of the 26 graduates only 9 will be accepted as genin. The rest will be waited out and sent back to the academy. Plus there is a 66 percent change that you'll fail. Not the best news you wanna hear but I thought you would like to know that little fact."

"_Yeah but we'll be expecting your little tricks this time, Kakashi-Sensei." _Sakura declared in her head making a small fist with her hand that wasn't cut. After Kakashi gave the rendezvous spot and told to not eat breakfast, he disappeared in puff of white smoke.

Sasuke and Sakura stood and started to walk away but they both noticed something at once. Naruto hadn't moved since Kakashi left. Turning around, they saw him smirking while looking at them. "You know, I knew there was something different about you two."

"_Sasuke-kun, do you think my hug from earlier gave us away?" _Sakura asked Sasuke through the mind link between them. "_Wait...Naruto isn't smart enough to know we're from the future."_

"_He might just be noticing your hair. It was longer not even an hour ago."_ Sasuke stated while giving Naruto a dull look. "What are you talking about, you loser?" He got back into the act this Naruto was use to.

Naruto snorted once making them more confused. "Nothing in particular but I did want to know one small thing." He walked closer to them moving his hands to his side. "Just...when did you two finally arrive at this time period?"

Their eyes widened. So he did know that they weren't from this time. "What?" They spoke at once towards him causing him to chuckle lightly.

"You and Sakura-Chan sure did take your steady time." He remarked noticing their lost faces. "And this is really how you say hi to someone you haven't seen for a year? A person dies once and suddenly he's forgotten."

It hit Sakura like a lightning bolt as tears sprang from his eyes. This was their Naruto..the Naruto from their time. She attacked him with a tight hug that he gladly returned. "Naruto! It's really you! How is this possible? We saw..you..die right in front of us."

"The fox spirit told me about jutsu that could use right as I died. He said that if I could go the past then it was possible that I could re-right some wrongs I made to prevent my death in the future. When I got here, everyone still treated me like they did before we became genin. I've tried to act like I was when I was kid but you can't blame me cause I've tried yet I'm a bit more...calmer than I was. For one, I never pulled that prank on the hokage faces. I passed the graduation test with flying colors and still got to pound Mizuki for stealing the scroll. Best of all, I got to skip that kiss with Sasuke!"

"When did you figure out that it was instead of this times version of us?" Sasuke questioned hiding the bit of happiness he was feeling. Especially about that kiss with Naruto. His fighting partner was back but he wasn't too sure.

"After Sakura hugged me and when she cut her hair, I figured something was up. Then noticed that she didn't say anything when I pulled that prank. Finally, Sakura said she wanted to become a medic ninja and you wanting to find Itachi instead of killing him made me realize it." Naruto explained but stopped after seeing the doubt in Sasuke's eyes. "You don't believe me?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly. "Not all the way." He admitted as Sakura let go and wiped her eyes. "Show me something that only you was able to pull off. I'll know too."

Smirking, Naruto made a shadow clone and began charging his father's attack. It got bigger and bigger. "Rasengan!" He fired it at a tree knocking it fully down causing birds to fly away. "How's that?"

His answer was hit to the back of the head from Sakura. "You dumb ass! You could have just activated your sage mode instead of blowing up a tree!" She almost shouted at him. "I'll fix before someone notices just keep a look out." She went over and picked it up easily and put it back on the stump.

"She's still has that monstrous strength." Naruto commented laughing looking up to his friend and rival. "So what exactly happened after I died? Did you guys win the war yet?"

Sasuke looked off to the side hesitant to answer him. "After you died, mostly everyone else did too. Even Tsunade died. We fought them back but was at no cost. With no hokage, there was no one to lead so Sakura was selected to become to 6th hokage. The village was in shambles since most of the villagers were wither dead or too injured. We found a jutsu and decided to try it and ended up here." Sasuke explained briefly which almost caused Naruto's eyes to pop from his skull.

"What?!" He yelled shocked beyond all means. "Everyone died? Even..." He was too scared to ask but he gripped Sasuke shoulders with a scared look. "Did Hinata die too?"

The Uchiha nodded sadly. "After she saw you get killed, she went and got most of them but overused her chakra levels. We couldn't get to her before she passed away along with everyone else."

"Oh my gosh..." Naruto said letting go. Sasuke briefly remember he and Hinata were engaged. Seeing Sakura was done, Naruto grabbed his arm-warmer and Sakura hand pulling them towards the village grounds. "Okay, I know we have a bunch to go over but I need to go and ask Hinata-Chan on a date."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. "Do really think she won't faint on you? I mean I remember her doing it lots of times when you got close." She reminded him.

"I know but..." Naruto looked like he had a depressing spotlight on him while he fell to ground crying. "I miss my Hinata-Chan! I miss her cute little blushes whenever I kissed her or even winked at her! That sweet innocent smile she gave me when I went on missions! Hell, I even miss her fainting on me whenever I scared her and when I joked about us getting married one day! I want my Hinata-Chan!"

"Alright, you loser, get up!" Sasuke ordered breaking up his little monologue finding it amusing yet annoying. "But before you do, we need to talk. Sakura and I had already discussed it but you need to suppress the amount of power you use. We can't have you beating enemies with a jutsu that belonged to Forth Hokage when you didn't even learn it yet. Even using your Sage mode is Taboo. Last thing we need is people giving us unwanted attention."

Naruto nodded. "Right! Good thing I didn't do any of that stuff yet! See you later! Don't forget to eat breakfast!" He ran off at lightning speed in a random direction with smoke almost appearing from the speed. "Hinata-Chan!"

The two other genin could only smile at his actions. It's been awhile since they could call Naruto names or even yell at him for doing something stupid. It was kinda sweet that he found someone who loved at him like Hinata. Sakura looked at Sasuke before smiling at him. "Is it safe for me to ask you on a date now?"

Turning slightly, Sasuke hid a smirk. "I don't know. You might wanna touch up on your abilities more. Who knows what that jutsu probably did to you." He could almost imagine that fist forming in her hand before turning laughing only to see her angry face. "Just kidding. Come on. My treat."

* * *

"Hinata-Chan!" Naruto called seeing the Hyuuga girl walking. She stopped and he ran up to her trying to catch his breath. "H-Hinata-Chan...I've been...looking for you..."

"I-Is something w-wrong, N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked confused and slightly flustered by her crush looking for her. It was rare for him to talk to her since she usually didn't talk to him. When he grabbed her hand her cheeks went red.

Naruto held back from laughing at her. He adored seeing her blush. "W-Will you please go on date with me tonight?" The moment he got done asking her noticed how red her face got. Smiling, he waved a hand in front of her face. "Hinata-Chan?"

"I-I'd love to." She answered right after he called her name. This had to be one of the greatest days of her life. Naruto just asked her out and it was for real.

"Awesome. I'll meet you at the park in 1 hour." He grinned and kissed her cheek making her brighter than the sun. Naruto smiled and ran off leaving her standing there shocked and half-way breathing.

While running by, he saw Sasuke and Sakura sitting Ichiraku's. Sakura was eating dango balls while Sasuke had curry rice. They looked like they were having fun while talking to each other. He came up with the conclusion that they were on a date and grin appeared on his face. Tip toeing he went to listen to their conversation out of pure curiosity.

"Sasuke-kun, I can't believe it." Sakura giggled while putting a hand to her mouth. "You mean you had teddy bear as kid! That's so cute!"

"Laugh it up all you want but I bet you had one too." Sasuke stated putting some rice in his mouth with a small laugh when she blushed. "Am I wrong?"

Sakura looked down red before admitting it. "Partly. It was stuffed bunny. He was my best friend. The only person who didn't make fun of my forehead."

Looking at her, Sasuke tilted his head. "You know, it's not that big. Actually it's about normal. Kids are just stupid at times. Plus having a big head means you have a big brain which means your smart. You're grades proved it." He told her honestly while eating his rice.

A few blush lines went across Sakura's face. "Thank you." She said in an almost low tone. It was rare that Sakura received a compliment like that so she really liked it. Especially when it was from one of her best friends. Wait... "S-Sasuke-Kun, how would describe our relationship?"

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked a bit confused at the question though it was a good one. He considered her as...as... "You're one of my best friends. Unless you want me to treat you as one of my fan girls then that an entirely different story..."

A vein appeared on her forehead. "You really are a jackass when you wanna be, you know that?" She stated rhetorically while glaring at him playfully.

"Yeah, I've been told yet you still tolerate me so I guess being a jackass isn't as bad as you make it out to be. Actually, being a jackass is one of my best traits." He chuckled while answering the question that didn't need one.

"That was a rhetorical question, you jerk."

He gave her a small wink with famous smirk. "And I gave you a rhetorical answer. See? I can be a fun jackass too."

They both had no other choice but to laugh together. Naruto in a way was happy for the both of them. It had been awhile since he heard them actually laugh and talk with each other. The Sasuke and Sakura he knew in this time-line wouldn't even speak to one another. Well Sakura would try but he would ignore her like a fly. A small smile went across his face as he continued to listen to them. He had a little time before his date with Hinata.

A thought came to mind as he heard Sakura mention something about her parents. For a while, Naruto had forgotten that a couple of months before she became a genin, that both her parents died in a storm while they traveling. A tree fell right on top of them from what she told him and Sasuke years later. That had to be one of the few things they all had in common.

* * *

"Isn't the stars pretty, Hinata-Chan?" Naruto asked as he walked besides Hinata. He didn't even have to look at her to know she was redder than a cluster of cherries. After dinner, he thought a walk through a through the village would be fun. He had secretly brought a camera and had been taking pictures of Hinata when she wasn't looking.

"Y-Yeah." She answered while looking down which made Naruto laughed at her. "W-Why are you l-laughing?"

He put on his hands in his pocket. "Cause you just agreed when you have been looking down the entire time." She got so flustered that she stopped walking altogether. Naruto went behind her and put her head so she would look at the sky.

Hinata looked and she was amazed to see the star filled sky with a half-moon there too. There wasn't a cloud in sight besides the small smoke ones. She couldn't help but smile at the beautiful scene. "Wow!" She exclaimed with her purple eyes almost reflecting the stars.

Seeing it as a perfect picture, Naruto took out the camera and snapped a picture which didn't catch her attention. Finally, he wrapped an arm around her causing her to look at him. He told her to smile and she did just as he took a picture of them both.

"N-Naruto-kun, h-have you had that t-the entire time?" Hinata asked with curiosity. After all, he she hadn't seen it throughout the whole date. He nodded and she got a bit embarrassed. "A-And you've b-been taking p-pictures too?"

The blond-haired boy put a hand behind his head bashfully. "Sorry, Hinata-Chan. I mean, it's my first date and I wanted to remember it." He admitted in a half-lie. It wasn't his real first date with Hinata but in this time is was his first date with this Hinata. Putting the camera back in his pocket, he went and grabbed her hand. "Hinata-Chan, can I ask you a question?"

Not able to get any redder, Hinata nodded slowly. "Y-Yes, Naruto-kun?" There were a lot of follow-up questions running through her mind that it was enough to give someone a headache.

Blood rushed to the veins in Naruto's cheeks as he looked at her. "I-I know...this might be a bit rushed but...w-will..will you...be my..." He choked on each word while staring at her innocent face which he had fell in love with. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

Almost simultaneously, they both asked for her not to freak out and faint. Hinata smiled at him. "Y-Yes I will." She answered with honestly after realizing that she wouldn't faint.

"_Yes! This is greatest!_" Naruto screamed in his mind with an excited smile on his face. Leaning in his face her a peck on the lips which surprised her to end but still managed to stay conscious. Naruto waited about 3 seconds and was astounded to know that she didn't faint. He spoke to soon when she fell over and hit the ground red as ever. "H-Hinata-Chan?"

**Well I guess that's that! Tell me what you all thought!**

**-Cherry**


	3. Chapter 3

**Blast to the Past**

**Chapter Three: Friendship is Bliss**

I guess being in the past again isn't so bad. There isn't the gloom and dark feeling I get when I'm here. There are so many things that are different here though I already knew them. In a way, I'm glad that we are here. I get do things various things now than I couldn't do when I was this age. Now I think about it, the strongest people in the village now had to be Myself, Naruto, and Sakura. We've been and experienced just about everything that's happened so we already now how to deal with it.

The best part about being back here would be that my greatest rival and best friend from our future is here. Just like Sakura, I'm a bit happy to see him again. He is the same idiot he died as which brought me even greater happiness. It would have been hard treating him like the way the I did when we were younger. I mean, throughout all the time we've been a team all we ever did was argue and compete. Don't get me wrong, we still did that even as young adults but for a full year I hadn't been able to.

However, it wasn't like I was alone like when I was when Itachi killed everyone. I still had Sakura with me. She did a dramatic change from being a girl who obsessed over me constantly to someone who became one of my best friends and I could talk to freely. It was better to have someone to talk to rather than someone to fend off with a chair.

Even when she had been elected the 6th hokage, Sakura still remained the only person I would talk to. Though, she was still a hot head and cry baby, I still found a bit of joy when speaking to her. At the same time, I felt as if she was somewhat like Naruto and I. She too had lost her parents just like us so she knew what being lonely and not having parents was like which I didn't know when I got on her case when were kids after she called Naruto a loner.

Also, I saw that I was growing more and more, nicer towards her than I was other people. That was a reason I couldn't find no matter how hard I tried. Whenever she was sad or felt unsure about anything, I was right there to cheer her up and help her through it. Sometimes, I thought that I was just doing what any person would do in my type of situation but I felt like I was doing what only someone she was close to would. I know for a fact that I wouldn't have done it a few years before. There were times where she would fall asleep at her desk from working all night and I would be there to make sure nothing happened to her or when she would cry herself to sleep thinking about Naruto and Kakashi and I would be there to make sure she would feel totally alone.

I remembered the time where she started to drink wine to ease up the pain and would get so drunk that she would speak her mind about everything. Once, she had a heart attack and seizure which I was right there to help her recover from. I was almost scared that she would die from it but being the person she was, I knew that she wouldn't let that happen. I made her promise to come to me when she felt like drinking again. The first time she did, she fainted from sleep depravity and I stayed with her the entire time. She had horrible nightmare and woke up crying from it. It was dream that I would probably be upset about too but I helped her get over. Whenever I was with her, I just had an urge to stay with her. It wasn't something that I just couldn't explain...

* * *

The team arrived an hour after the time Kakashi had told them to come. All three had decided to eat breakfast so that they wouldn't be hungry throughout the day. They were smiling while walking towards one another. Naruto had to brightest of them all. "Good morning, you guys!"

"What's got you so happy this morning, Naruto?" Sakura asked a bit suspiciously at his tone. She gave him a devious smile. "Was it your date with Hinata?"

"You bet it was! I'm so happy to have my Hinata-Chan back that I could cry!" Naruto stated with a cheesy grin before smirking at them secretly. He wasn't going to mention their date but instead changed the subject. "And I thought we could use this time for you two to explain some things to me."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. "Like what? I told you everything. Or did you forget that fast because of your little love fest?" He accused crossing his arms.

Naruto sat down while giving him a small smile. "I was hoping you could give me a bit more details than that. I want to know everything that happened to the village after I died."

Sharing a look, Sasuke and Sakura both sat down and explained about everything that happened after his demise. He was a bit shocked to hear that Sakura became the hokage but then got a bit angry hearing about the things that occurred in the village. When they finished, he was clenching the grass on the ground very tightly to hide his anger. After calming him down, they sat there silently.

"I guess that's about it." Sakura said pulling her knees to her chest with a depressed look. The boys nodded and they all let out a sigh. She turned to Naruto. "So you remember what we said about your using your power?"

He nodded calming down. "Yeah, we gotta keep it simple and not over doing it." He recited her words before grinning at Sasuke. "You hear that, Mr. Emotions? That means not losing your temper. You have a bad habit of doing that, ya know."

The Uchiha glared at him before smirking himself. "Like you should talk Sir Cries-a-lot? You could step on a bug and then activate your nine-tailed friend just like that. Don't lecture me."

"Don't argue, you two. It really annoying me. You both just have control your emotions." Sakura told him with a simple tone. They stopped and stared at her before snorting at once. She scowled at them. "Did I miss the joke?"

"You of all people are telling us to control our emotions. Sorry to tell you, but out of all of us, you got the worst temper." Sasuke said putting his elbow on his knee. "Especially that crazy split personality you got inside of you."

"_**Cha! **__**Damn you, Uchiha! Damn you**_**!**" Inner Sakura shouted making a fist while Sakura's eye twitched at him. "I really don't care for you right now."

Sasuke shrugged with a light smirk. "You'll get over it." He told her before putting on a serious face. "Still, no using any jutsu that we didn't learn yet. Yes, it's disappointing but either way we have no choice. I can't use my Susanoo or my Chidori but I think I get away with using my normal Sharingan and not the Mangekyou."

Naruto sighed sadly. "Fine. I guess that means my Rasengan and Sage-Mode are out of the question also. I get to use Shadow-Clones at least." He said with pure disappointment.

"I suppose that means using my healing jutsu and all my strength from Lady Tsunade is down the drain too. That leaves me with just plain chakra control." Sakura said leaning back on the ground. "That's not fair! How am I supposed to be bad-ass without all my training?"

"You could attempt to pretend to self-teach yourself. I mean, if Grandma Tsunade could pull it off then I guess you could try." Naruto shrugged making his teammates give him a look. "What? I told you that I got smarter."

"I guess that could possibly work. I read somewhere that some people are born with medical abilities. Faking it can't be that hard." Sasuke figured crossing his arms. "We have a few hours till Kakashi gets here. We are we going do?"

Sakura put a finger to her cheek in thought before snapping her finger. "Let's see who can shoot the kunai deepest into a tree. It gets training done and wastes time." She pulled out a kunai with a light smirk. "How about it?"

"Sounds fun to me!" Naruto pipped standing up and doing a small fist pump. Using his other hand, he grabbed his kunai grinning. "I've been practicing all this time so prepare to lose."

Chuckling lightly, Sasuke stood while twirling his kunai on his index finger. "It doesn't matter how long you have been practicing. A loser is a loser for life. If anyone is going to lose, it will be you. Believe it." He smirked after quoting Naruto favorite words from when they little which made Naruto glare at him.

Once in the forest, they turned to different directions to a different tree. Putting some chakra into the blade, they focused on the large oak trees before all tossing them simultaneously. However, since they were all focused on winning the small competition, they didn't really hold back as much. Sasuke's kunai went into about 20 other trees before going straight through a boulder and stopping right at the end. Naruto's went into about the same amount before colliding with a huge rock formation, cracking it. Sakura's managed to go directly 20 amount and made a huge gap into a mountain side.

"Dammit!" They all cursed at once with a small pout/scowl. Not only couldn't they tell who won but they managed to make small slices in the trees and holes and cracks in whatever stopped their weapon. Turning slowly to each other, they shook off their looks before smirking. "Rematch!"

* * *

"Alright, let's get started." Kakashi said putting a clock on top the tree stump."There. It's set for noon." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out 2 bells. "Your assignment is simple. You just gotta take these bells from me. That's all there is to it." He shook them a bit. "If you can't get them by noon,you go without lunch. You'll be tied to those post and watch as I eat my lunch."

Their stomach grumbled loudly causing their faces to drop instantly. Since they were training so hard before he arrived, they basically burned off all the food in their stomach. "_And here I thought we were going to be ready..." _They thought at once.

"Now if you hadn't already noticed, there are three of you and two bells. Wanna know why that is?" Kakashi asked them hoping to get an answer from the three hungry children. "This way only one of you will end up being tied to a post and disqualified for failing to complete the mission. That one goes back to the academy. But then again...you could all flunk out too. You can use any weapons including shrieken. If you aren't prepared to kill me, you can't take the bells."

"Right!" They said at once with a nod. This was going to be a piece of cake considering they already know what to do and what to expect.

Kakashi looked at them before smiling lightly while was hidden under his mask. "You all seem to understand where I'm coming from so how can I say this..." He thought out loud for a minute. "I'm actually starting to like you guys. Get ready...Start!"

Almost instantly, they all split up and hid in trees including Naruto. Kakashi looked around muttering something to himself before pulling out his Make out Paradise book. They gave him a very dull look. Once a pervert, always a pervert.

"_So how are we going to go about this, Sasuke-kun? We just can't go up to him and take the bells. He won't pass us if we do that." _Sakura thought trying to make up a plan in to get them as a team.

"_Not sure. If anything, we have to make sure Naruto knows it. Who knows what wildly insane thing he might do to ruin it." _Stated Sasuke while thinking about how to do this and still pass. "_Maybe I should add him to our mind link..."_

"_I'm already here. It's a shame how you leave me out of everything, you two." _Naruto's voice came into their head causing them to almost fall. How the hell did he know and how was he doing it. _"And I take offense to that Sasuke!"_

Sasuke growled quietly. _"And just how the hell are you even in this conversation right now? I never brought you into it!"_ He yelled at him through the link.

Naruto laughed at him a bit before answering. "_Kyuubi said that I've been able to do since I activated my sage mode. I just never thought to use it till now." _

"_Cha, I'm just about ready to punch both of you for these lame abilities that your hiding! How do I even put up with you?_" She asked before cut Sasuke off before he could answer. "_That was a rhetorical question."_

"_Whatever. We need a plan to get those bells as a team." _Sasuke stated looking at the bells hanging from Kakashi's side. A plan popped in his head_. "I got an idea."_

"_By all means, tell us ,oh Prince of the jackassery!"_ Sakura giggled slightly earning a glare from Sasuke._ "Just kidding. But seriously though, I'm listening."_

Sasuke explained the plan as best he could in the smallest words he could before they all jumped down in front of Kakashi, who glanced up to look at them before going back to his book. "Oh? You're starting. This outta be interesting."

Sasuke and Naruto ran ahead to punch him but he jumped over them. Sakura then charged to deliver an uppercut and he dodged. She smirked and did a spin kick which he blocked which gave Sasuke the chance to straight-forward punch. Seeing it, Kakashi ducked and moved Sakura's leg before getting low and kicking the ground so they would fall but both Sakura and Sasuke flipped back to where Naruto was. Naruto made a few clones and they all went to attack Kakashi with mighty punches and kicks which gave Kakashi a bit of trouble but he still managed to defend himself and counter them all.

Putting his book away, Kakashi looked at them. "Okay...you've spiked my interest." He stated eying them carefully as they all struck a stance. A rather good one at that. He was mainly confused caused he felt as if he had recognized them. Especially, Naruto's. If he didn't know any better, then it resembled...

His thoughts were cut off by a triple attack from them. Soon he was only able to barely dodge the young ninjas' attacks because they were crazy fast. He noticed Sakura reached for the bells and automatically moved back. When he did, Sasuke did some hand-signs. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" The hot flame of fire came hurdling towards him and he moved out the way only to dodge a high kick from Naruto along with a flying side-kick from two of his clones. Kakashi knocked them back before Sakura made a hand-sign.

Kakashi shook his head and saw that pictures of nude women flashing across his face causing his to fly back with a nosebleed. Instantly, he knew it was a genjutsu before releasing it right as Naruto went for the two bells on his side. He threw punch at him which caused Naruto to burst into smoke revealing a shadow-clone while the real one stood beside Sasuke and Sakura. The gray-haired jonin tried to catch his breath slightly. They were better than he thought.

Naruto suddenly went ahead with his comrades right behind him. They were all holding kunai while grinning. Tilting his head slightly, Kakashi pulled out his own kunai before clashing with theirs. Soon it was an all out war between him and the 3 students and the students were winning. Soon he got sent skidding back holding the kunai up.

The 3 ninja nodded at each other before sending a smile towards there Sensei. They dashed around him causing to look and various directions but soon they stopped right the bell which signaled that their time was up rang. "Well would you look at that? We have been fighting all this time and no bells."

"Actually,Kakashi-Sensei, we took the bells a long time ago." Naruto stated with a chuckle. "You're just carry two bracelets I switched when we started." Sasuke and Sakura held up their bells. "See?"

"That so..." Kakashi started with a low voice checking then seeing the two replaced objects. "And why did you give it to Sakura and Sasuke? It's impossible for someone to be the Hokage if their stuck as a genin." His arms crossed at him.

Naruto shook his head while shaking his finger too. "I gave it to them because that was teams do. If I had kept the bells, then that means my team wouldn't be to graduate. I'm willing to sacrifice myself for teammates cause I know they would do the same for me."

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "And there are three of us on the team. We work together or not at all. Despite what anyone says, the lives of your teammates are worth more than mission. We could always get another mission but you couldn't get another friend."

"They're right. Naruto gave his bells to Sasuke-Kun and I because the three of us are one." Sakura stated smiling." We once heard a saying that we are going to stick to forever. Those who breaks the rules are scum however those who abandon their friends are worst than scum."

Kakashi visible eyes widened before going right back to normal. "So that's the case...the three of you are one..." He paused for a while before smiling. Finally, a team who understands what it means by teamwork. "You pass."

"We pass?" They all asked at once. It's wasn't they didn't know but didn't think that speech would win him over.

"Yep. You are the first team to ever accomplish the real lesson of this exercise. Everyone else managed to mess it up and not work together and ended up failing the assignment. That saying you said was true. In the ninja world, those who breaks rules are scum, that true...but those who abandon their friends..are worst than scum." He said and they all smiled. "The exercise is over! Team 7 begins their first mission tomorrow!"

"Alright! We did it!" Sakura cheered happily while hugging both Naruto and Sasuke, who were also smiling from passing again. It was much easier than before but it was still a lot of fun. She missed fighting as team with them. Kakashi said that they could leave before disappearing himself.

Naruto looked at them. "Well I'll see you guys later. Hinata-Chan is coming over to my house to watch a movie! Catch you guys tomorrow!" He shouted running off in the direction of his house leaving Sasuke and Sakura there alone.

They were silent for a while before Sakura spoke. "So Sasuke-kun, what are you about to do now?" She asked with a small smile.

"I'm going to stay out here and train. I need to touch up my techniques a little more." He stated pulling out a kunai knife and made a Shadow-Clone. "What are you going to do, Sakura?"

She smiled sadly after thinking about it. "I think I'm going to go visit my parents graves. I haven't been there in a while. I'll see you later." Sakura waved to him before running off.

* * *

After buying a bouquet of roses, Sakura went to the grave site and walked slowly all the way to where he her parents stones rested. A grim smile founds it way to her face as she put the flowers down. After making the flowers were firmly in the ground, Sakura put her hand on their shared headstone.

"Hiya, Mom, Daddy. I know you can already tell that I'm not your Sakura. I'm from way in the future and everything is a bit different from here. There, you've been gone for years yet it still hard to swallow. I really miss you. Daddy, even though your jokes were lame I enjoyed hearing them and Mom, we had our share of fights that you usually won but I'd do anything to have one more with you. I've changed so much over the time that it's almost crazy how much your little cherry blossom grows up."

She was cut off by the sound of thunder. When she glanced up, she noticed dark clouds were rolling in and wind picked up.

"Sorry, Mom, Dad, I was rambling on again. Well anyway, like I said, I miss you both so much and hope you two are thinking about me wherever you are. I know, I'm the girl you raised but either way, you are still my parents and I love you both no matter what. I'll try harder to visit you more after today but no promises. I mean, I'm going to have to work harder than ever in to stay the strongest. Just you wait,I'll be stronger than everyone and protect this village with my life." She smiled again. "I bet I have said this a billion times now but still...I love you. Please watch over me."

Looking down, she placed a kiss on the stone before walking off at fast pace. She barely got out the cemetery before it poured down raining. Cursing slightly, she started to walk a but faster but slipped because it was raining.

It was loud splash heard as she hit the ground hard on her right side. Struggling slightly, she stood and tried to limp her way home but knew it was pretty far. It then struck her that Sasuke's house was around the corner. Sucking up the pain, she walked around the corner to his house before knocking on it 3 times. It was a while before he answered and when he saw her he tilted his head. "Sakura?"

"S-Sasuke-Kun...can I c-come in,please?" She asked shivering from the cold rain and her cheeks red from embarrassment. It wasn't because she was embarrassed for asking but he was shirtless and just wearing his normal white shorts and leg warmers still.

"Sure." Sasuke stated pulling her in and closing his door. She was soaking wet and had a deep cut on her arm and right cheek. After she removed her shoes, Sasuke grabbed her by the wrist through his living room to bathroom. He pointed to the close toilet seat. "Sit."

She did as he said and watched as he went into the sink cabinet and pulled out an antibiotic wipe and two band-aids. Her face went blue. "W-What are you about to d-do?" She asked before flinching slightly from the cuts.

He rolled his eyes before squatting slightly so they would be face to face. She blushed because their faces were so close but it disappeared when he put the wipe on the cut on her arm. Sakura let out small yelp and cringed. "Stop moving. You're going to make this longer."

"But it stings!" She whined with small pout while covering it with her other hand. He pried it off the hand before wiping it despite her efforts. Holding back some tears, Sakura bit her lip while he put the band-aid on carefully. "You big bully..."

"Whatever. Let me see your face." He stated going back to her face causing her to blush again. It

didn't hurt as much when did the cut on her cheek before putting on the band-aid. "Done." He stated moving towards the door. "Wait here."

"Stop telling me what do! You could at least say please, you jackass!" Sakura shouted at him. "_**Cha! Let's kill him now!" **_Inner Sakura shouted waving her fist with a determined look. Her offer was very tempting but it left when he tossed something at her. She caught before inspecting it. "What's this?"

"A plastic cup." He retorted sarcastically putting a hand on her side with a dull look which made her glare at him. "It's a shirt and shorts. You should take a shower before you catch cold."

Her glare disappeared and was replaced with a smile. She was glad to have Sasuke with her. "Thanks, Sasuke-Kun." He nodded before leaving and shutting the door behind him. After a few seconds, Sakura started to strip her clothing.

* * *

Sasuke sat on his bed with a low sigh. He was still trying to get used to his somewhat smaller body. Though he possessed great power beyond even the Hokage's at this point, being this...short was kinda hard. Not to mention, he didn't have his sword...and he loved that sword. It was used for some of his techniques so that was next on his bucket list. To find that sword again.

Not only that, he couldn't get used to seeing Sakura like he did. She looked almost the same but it wasn't till they came there, did he notice how cute she was. When they were this age before, he didn't think of her that way but now...

"Um..Sasuke-kun?"

Her voice caused him his thought to reside. Glancing up, he felt blood instantly rush to his cheeks. She looked really cute in his clothes... "W-What is it?"

She went over and sat beside him. Her face was a bit sad for his liking. "H-How...How come you...How come after everything that happened, why did you stick so close to me?" She asked in a very low tone.

Sitting up, he glanced at her. That was very out of the blue question but he did in fact have an answer for her. "You weren't the only one who was alone. Sure, I had no family left but I still had you and Kakashi, and Naruto. After they died, then I knew all I had was you left. I wasn't about to let the closest thing I had to family go pass me without a second glance." Sasuke finished looking at her. "Why do you ask?"

Sakura shrugged. "I was thinking about it while I was visiting my parents this afternoon. I was sure than my life was over when they died then everyone else started to follow. I almost thought for a minute that you were just here to pity me. Someone who became so broken that it hurt to even look at a picture. Maybe you thought I was too weak to defend the village that Itachi loved so much..."

"That's enough." He cut off while gripping her shoulders. A serious expression on his face. "This has to stop. I already told you this before but I didn't leave because we are friends! Friends don't leave each other alone when they are hurting. Did you forget that I was in that battle too? How do think I felt watching all our comrades die? It was like watching my clan being slaughtered all over again. I was felt useless until something gave me reason to fight. And that was to protect the last friend I had left. You."

"S-Sasuke-Kun..." She said with a wide and watery eyes. Her mouth had small gap from his long declaration. All her emotions were running while at once...

He hugged her tightly which made everything in the world to Sakura freeze. "It's okay now. You don't have to hold them back anymore. Go ahead. I'll stay right here." He said causing her emerald colored eyes to go wider. "All those feelings that are holding you back...let them go."

Almost 10 seconds after he finished, clear salty tears began to fall down the sides of her face. Soon her soft cries became loud sobs of hurt and agony. Putting the top of her head on Sasuke's bare chest, she let out everything. The sadness she was feeling at the grave and the pain and torture she was feeling long before. The entire time she cried, Sasuke was there listening and stroking her hair for extra comfort. This was her final breaking point...

**Well, I guess that's about it! I know that was a bit depressing but just you wait things will get..somewhat bright..Please review and don't forget to check on my poll!**

**-Cherry**


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